Restoring Nation's 'Moral Order' Starts With Families, Group Says

WASHINGTON--A group of social theorists from divergent political
backgrounds declared last week that it was uniting behind a common
agenda: restoring the nation's "moral order" by strengthening
communities and families.

In a broad-ranging platform released here, the group of some 30
scholars advances a "communitarian" vision of society in which parents
put children first, schools do not shirk teaching values, politicians
do not cave in to special interests, citizens honor their civic duties,
and communities take appropriate steps to curb disease and crime.

"The best place to start" in building such a community, the group
argues, is the family, "where each new generation acquires its moral
anchoring."

"Moral education is not a task that can be delegated to babysitters,
or even professional child-care centers. It requires close bonding of
the kind that typically is formed only with parents, if it is formed at
all," states the document, entitled "The Responsive Communitarian
Platform: Rights and Responsibilities."

Albert Shanker, the president of the American Federation of
Teachers, is among the statement's signers. Others include Robert N.
Bellah, a professor of sociology at the University of California at
Berkeley; Richard John Nenhaus, the president of the Religion and
Public Life Institute; Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow at the Urban
Institute; and the public- opinion analyst Daniel Yankelovich.

The platform was unveiled at a "teach-in" hosted by its principal
drafters and led by Amitai Etzioni, a professor of sociology at George
Washington University and the editor of the journal The Responsive
Community.

The program also featured Democratic Senators Daniel Patrick
Moynihan of New York and Al Gore of Tennessee, Republican Senator Dave
Durenberger of Minnesota, and a number of White House aides.

Concern for Common Good

The communitarian philosophy, supporters of the platform say, is
based on the premise that American society has been "cannibalized" by
policies that do not balance individual rights with a sense of
responsibility to the common good.

Debate at last week's session centered on how to balance rights and
responsibilities in the realms of family, school, politics, and public
health.

While they do not necessarily agree on root causes or cures, the
platform's signers agree that parents--whether by economic necessity or
to sustain their standard of consumerism or personal advancement--too
often "come home too late and too tired to attend to the needs of their
children."

To address that concern, the platform calls for a "change in
orientation" in economic, social, and workplace policies so that they
support families through mechanisms ranging from tax credits to family
leave to flexible work schedules.

At the same time, the group decries programs that penalize
traditional families or assume too many of their functions. It seeks to
advance policies "that facilitate the discharge by the families
themselves of those social tasks they are best suited to."

Rather than promoting "a return to a nostalgic past" or pressuring
mothers to stay home, Mr. Etzioni said, communitarianism "endorses a
new familism in which both parents are actively engaged in the
education of their children."

The group notes that some single parents "bravely struggle and
succeed" in transmitting moral values to children and that some married
couples "shamefully neglect" them. But it argues that, in general,
two-parent families are better able to discharge their
child-raising duties, if only because there are more hands--and
voices--available for the task."

'Second Line of Defense'

On that basis, it calls for the modification of divorce laws, "to
signal society's concern" with the ease and proliferation of divorce,
and for child-support policies that put children's interests first.
Calling schools "the second line of defense" after families, the
platform urges schools at all levels to address their "grave
responsibility to provide moral education."

The "specter of religious indoctrination" can be avoided, it argues,
by stressing "values Americans share," such as human dignity,
tolerance, peaceful resolution of conflicts, and the merits of
democratic government, truth, work, and self-reliance.

While recognizing the need to protect individual rights and bar
discrimination, the platform accents citizens' responsibility to stay
informed, vote, and pay taxes. It also favors both voluntary and
mandatory steps to curb the spread of AIDS, to test those in "high-risk
jobs" for drug use, and to enhance public safety.

Communitarians do not represent a political party, but rather urge
candidates for public office to "broaden their agenda" to address the
nation's "moral deficit," Mr. Etzioni said.

What has been interpreted as apathy, contended Mary Ann Glendon, a
professor of law at Harvard University who helped lead the teach-in,
stems from families' sense of"futility" and from having their choices
limited to "stinginess on the far right and oversimplification on the
far left."

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